Analysts and medical providers, from Liberia to the United States, say that in order to address the crisis, the international community must tackle
the real culprit: western-driven economic policies defunding public health systems around the world, particularly in the
countries hit hardest by the outbreak.

Since the 1980s, western financial institutions have given loans to third world governments on the condition those states impose
austere domestic reforms and roll back public services. This approach is encapsulated in the 1981 World Bank report Accelerated Development
in Sub-Saharan Africa, which presses for "structural adjustments," including rapid privatization, shrinking of public services and
subsidies, and a shift towards export dependency as a solution to "slow economic growth."

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